


once bitten twice shy

by ladylikerat



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, M/M, Minor Character Death, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:47:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27786220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladylikerat/pseuds/ladylikerat
Summary: Sakusa just wants to be left alone, it's what he deserves after all.Atsumu doesn't know how to be alone and he isn't about to start trying to learn now.As if a zombie apocalypse wasn't enough to deal with, the two now have to learn how to survive each other.
Relationships: Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Kudos: 10





	once bitten twice shy

Sakusa Kiyoomi had definitely had better days. Not that he had experienced many days that he would call particularly good in his life, but after this whole zombie apocalypse business had started they had most certainly gotten worse.

Lifting his trusty baseball bat, he gave it a few test swings while eyeing the small hoard that had cornered him in the alleyway. He cursed himself for not doing a more thorough sweep of the area first as they shambled their way closer. Everything had been clear when he had made his way inside the abandoned convenience store for supplies. He even thought his luck had turned around when he stumbled upon a shelf fully stocked with mini bottles of hand sanitizer, meticulously plucking them from where they sat one by one and depositing them into his bag.

It was his own fault really for feeling hope. Nothing good ever came from allowing himself to feel, well, anything really.

With a deep breath through his face mask he stepped forward to meet the first undead in his path, the half rotten face of what had once been a woman stared back at him, moaning pitifully. The tattered remains of an apron clung to her body, fluttering slightly in the breeze. Perhaps she had worked at one of the cafes nearby? Or maybe she had just been baking for her children when one of them turned on her?

No.

He had to stop that.

Stop humanizing them in his mind.

These weren’t people anymore. This wasn’t some woman who had a life before this, it was just a corpse. Nothing more.

He had to stay detached. He had to stay distanced. It made it easier.

Made it less likely for him to think about--

Crack!

One powerful swing with the bat to the zombie’s head was all it took to snap it’s neck at a terrible angle, its body crumpling to the ground and remaining there.

One down, four more to go.

It seemed luck hadn’t completely abandoned him. These all appeared to be relatively older zombies, judging by how slow and jerky their movements were. As they aged and their bodies continued to rot and fall apart they became easier to dispatch. It was the freshly turned you really had to be wary of. 

The ones that could still remember what being alive felt like. 

The ones that hungered to feel the way they never would again.

The next 2 zombies went down with no trouble, both also on the older side. Skin gone to leather and sunken in eyes, they could barely muster the energy to drag themselves in his direction.

No, it wasn’t until around the fourth one where everything went to shit.

This one was a little fresher than the rest, still retaining most of its hair and skin slightly less pallid. As it turned to face him, Sakusa’s breath hitched in his throat and he found himself frozen in place.

He looked like he had been about his age when he had been alive. Sandy brown hair parted in the front with a few tufts sticking straight up on top, thick short brows…

And it all came crashing back.

The fear.

The pain.

The overwhelming ache of loss.

He was helplessly rooted to the spot as all the emotions he had carefully locked away broke free of their boxes and flooded his mind.

No. No. No. No. No.

The bat slipped from his fingers and clattered to the ground as the undead lumbered towards him on unsteady feet, gaining speed as it got closer. He could see the hunger in its eyes, the flecks of blood around its mouth from its last meal, nostrils flaring as it took in his scent.

Wait.

That nose was too large, the mouth too wide, the eyes not quite the right size and shape.

It wasn’t him. It wasn’t him!

He regained control of himself just as the zombie reached out an arm and sunk its fingers into his shoulder, lunging face first for his neck. Dropping to a crouch while grabbing onto the arm, he tried to use its momentum against itself and fling it over the shoulder it was currently gripping.

It half worked, the undead was pulled off balance and fell forward, but its grip was stronger than he anticipated. Instead of being tossed over his shoulder he suddenly found himself knocked to the ground by the creature which landed heavily atop him.

This was certainly not ideal.

Grabbing the monster by the hair as it lunged again, Sakusa was just barely able to hold it back from sinking its teeth into his arm. It’s teeth clacked together mere centimeters from his forearm, and the only thing that made contact were a few drops of spittle that flew from its jaws.

His brain zeroed in on the droplets, panic bells going off.

Unclean. Unclean. Unclean.

He did his best to push the thoughts to the back of his mind for now, more pressing matters staring him in the face, quite literally, at the moment. If he didn’t get the upper hand soon he was done for.

The zombie was gnashing it’s teeth in the alarmingly short space between them, eyes alight now that its prey was so close within its reach. Sakusa desperately searched for some kind of opening, a pause in its onslaught or an overbalanced lunge that he could use to his advantage. The monster still had a vice grip on his shoulders and seemed intent on sticking with its current plan of attack. To make matters worse, a garbled moan keened from somewhere uncomfortably close by followed by shuffling sounds. It seemed the last remaining zombie had just realized that an easy meal was at hand.

Sakusa’s arms began to tremble from the effort of holding back the zombie’s face and a steady stream of curses made their way from his mouth. Stamina had never been his strong suit, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold out. Was this it? Was this how he was going to go out? It seemed underwhelming to say the least, to survive the initial apocalypse only to be taken out by two measly zombies after filling his bag up with sanitizer.

Kind of pathetic.

Kind of fitting.

A sudden flash of silver cut across his eyes and tearing his thoughts to pieces. The body on top of him dropped like a rock, but the head remained firmly grasped by the hair in his hands. He stared into the unblinking eyes of the creature as what little light had been present in them faded. 

It wasn’t until a thick drop of blood splattered onto his stomach from the neck of the thing that he was snapped out of it, tossing the head roughly to the side and scrambling out from under the corpse to regain his feet.

Before him stood one very alive man with terribly dyed straw yellow hair, fixing Sakusa with a wry grin as he wiped the blade of his katana off on the clothes of the zombie he had so deftly beheaded. The corpse of the fifth and final member of the small hoard lay nearby in a similar state.

“This is the part where yer s’posed to thank me.” He sheathed the sword with one fluid movement, cocking an eyebrow at Sakuka as he spoke, “Yer welcome by th’way.”

Sakusa levelled a glare at the stranger, internally screaming about the drops of blood that had soaked into his shirt. Removing his backpack he quickly removed one of the bottles of hand sanitizer from his earlier haul, along with a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and busied himself with scrubbing away the evidence of the zombie attack.

“Feh, or not I guess. ‘S’not like I saved yer life or anythin’ like that,” he muttered to himself, raking a hand through his locks, “The name’s Miya Atsumu by th’way. Ya didn’t happen to see anyone around that looks like an uglier version of me with grey hair, have ya?”

Sakusa continued to ignore him, hoping he would go away if he kept it up. While he was thankful to not be on his way to joining the hoard that had attacked him, judging by the swagger in the man’s voice he thought any praise he gave would instantly be turned around in the form of gloating.

If there was one thing Sakusa hated almost as much as low hygiene, it was cocky bastards. 

And it did appear that Miya Atsumu was indeed one cocky bastard.

It also appeared like Miya Atsumu was very unlikely to go away any time soon. Instead he was watching intently as Sakusa rubbed at his arm with a small washcloth he had pulled from his bag.

“Hey ya, uh-- ya didn’t get bit right?”

The swagger had drained from his voice as he asked the question, tinges of genuine concern coloring his tone. 

Sakusa leveled him with a flat gaze and held up his arm in response. It was bright red from the rough scrubbing he had given it, but the skin was fully intact.

“No, I did not. I had the situation handled before you butted in,” his tone was dripping with acid. 

“He speaks!” Atsumu’s eyes widened for a moment before a lazy grin resettled itself on his features. “Ya sure ‘bout that? Didn’t seem to have much of a handle on anythin’ from where I was standin’. ‘Less yer countin’ the head of this thing.” Atsumu poked at the body on the ground with his foot for emphasis.

Sakusa frowned in response, his mouth hidden behind his facemask but his displeasure clear in the set of his eyebrows.

“Oh course I’m sure, Miya.” 

“Ya gonna tell me yer name or should I just make somethin’ up?”

Sakusa weighed the option of continuing to refuse to answer, but came to the conclusion that Atsumu calling him by some stupid made up name would be much worse.

“Sakusa, Sakusa Kiyoomi.”

Atsumu had an idea that Sakusa would be the type of person who wanted to be referred to respectfully using his last name, perhaps his first name amongst close friends, but he definitely didn’t seem like the nickname sort. So of course that’s exactly what he would call him.

“Pleasure to meet’cha Omi-kun. Now ya gonna tell me if ya saw my twin brother or not?”

“It’s Kiyoomi,” Sakusa gritted his teeth at the bastardization of his name and leveled a glare at Atsumu before his expression suddenly cleared and he lowered his gaze to study his fingernails.

“Unable to pronounce a simple name correctly? The other Miya must have inherited all the brains in the family then.” Atsumu squawked in response but Sakusa continued before he could fully retort, “And no, before you ask for a third time I haven’t seen anyone fitting that description.”

“We got seperated a few days ago. Our meetin’ spot got.. compromised.” He grimaced for a moment at the memory, “How ‘bout you? Yer group get sick of ya glarin’ at ‘em all the time and kick ya to the curb?”

Sakusa went perfectly still and continued to gaze dispassionately at his hands.

It took Atsumu a little longer than it should have to realize the lack of an answer was, in itself, an answer.

“Ah shit I— Omi, I didn’t—“

“I don’t want your pity,” Sakusa spat the words from his mouth, hands forming fists and falling to his sides. “Now if you don’t mind I’ll be taking my leave before you have a chance to get sick of me.” With his piece spoken, he grabbed his bag and abruptly headed off in the opposite direction from Atsumu, not wanting to give the other man a chance to respond.

It was stupid of him to expect this interaction to go any differently really. He was better off alone, better off away from other people.

* * *

Well shit. Atsumu knew he wasn’t the best at first impressions but he had really gone and screwed the pooch on this one hadn’t he.

Although, to be fair, this Sakusa guy hadn’t been the least bit grateful when he had shown up and saved his life. So really the other man had started it, hadn’t he?

Doesn’t matter who starts it ‘Tsumu, just be the bigger person fer once in yer goddamn life and end it.

He could hear his brother’s voice clear as day in his head, could practically feel the judgemental stare Osamu would be casting in his direction over the interaction that had just transpired.

“Yer not even really here ‘Samu, don’t tell me what to do,” Atsumu muttered under his breath, immediately jogging off in the direction Sakusa had headed.

It definitely wasn’t to follow the advice from his subconscious’s version of his twin. No, of course not.

It was just dangerous to travel alone and Sakusa was the first living human that Atsumu had managed to come across after being separated. It could be days, or even weeks, before he stumbled across other survivors.

He certainly wasn’t thinking about how lonely he had been without Osamu’s constant presence by his side, or how much the thought of not knowing where Osamu was and how he was doing terrified him to no end. He was pretty sure Osamu wasn’t dead or mortally wounded or anything since being twins and all he felt like he would just know somehow if something that terrible had happened.

Or maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe all those stories of twins knowing the moment one of them got hurt or died was all junk. It’s not like they had ever really had the opportunity to test out that theory. Before this whole apocalypse business neither of them had ever been in any real mortal danger, and they had been together for all of it so far.

No, no he wasn’t thinking about any of that right now. He was just thinking about his own safety at the moment. Really.

* * *

Sakusa enjoyed the silence as he walked. Silence meant no beings nearby, be they alive or dead. Silence meant peace.

Silence meant he was alone, as he liked it.

Unfortunately for him the silence was broken with a grating shout, startling a flock of birds from a nearby tree.

“Omi-kuuun! Where are you?”

Sakusa gritted his teeth and raised a hand to rub at his temple. Why in the world had this man decided to follow him. What in their interaction could have possibly given him the impression that Sakusa wanted his presence. And shouting, really? After just encountering a horde, did he have a death wish?

Maybe if he ignored him and kept moving the other man would give up.

“OmiOmi! Omi-kun! Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

Or maybe his shouts would attract another hoard who would take them both out.

With an exasperated sigh, Sakusa stopped and turned to face the direction of the calls. The voice had sounded closer and he expected Atsumu was likely just around the corner and headed this way. Folding his arms across his broad chest he waited, foot tapping impatiently on the pavement.

After a moment the tell tale shock of piss yellow hair emerged from a side street, brown eyes alighting as they met Sakusa’s own. “There ya are Omi-kun!” his face broke out into a playful grin, “Was startin’ ta think ya were avoidin’ me.”

“Whatever could have possibly given you that impression Miya,” Sakusa deadpanned, gaze neutral.

Atsumu simply waved his hands dismissively in response and walked over. “Anyways now that I found ya again I’ve got a proposition fer ya! Howabouts—”

“No.”

“Ya didn’t even hear what I was gonna say!”

Sakusa rolled his eyes at the other man’s whine, “I don’t need to hear it to know that any idea you try to proposition is going to be terrible.”

“So rude Omi-kun.” Atsumu stuck his tongue out at Sakusa, “I was gonna say we should travel together, safety in numbers and all that.”

“Being strapped to one of the undead sounds like a more pleasant experience than travelling with you.”

Atsumu clutched his chest dramatically in mock hurt.

“But Omi-kuuun,” Atsumu wheedled stepping closer and poking the other man in the chest with an accusatory finger, “Ya owe me fer savin’ yer life.”

Sakusa visibly flinched at the contact, brushing the spot on his shirt Atsumu had touched with a gloved hand, as if the other man’s finger had dirtied his clothes. He leveled a glare in Atsumu’s direction and took a step back. He had him there, as much as he loathed to admit it he was only still alive and uninjured thanks to Atsumu.

“Fine,” he kept his voice flat but his eyes gave away his annoyance, “But only until we find your brother. Then my debt will be considered repaid.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! First of all, thanks for reading!
> 
> This is my first attempt at writing a multichapter fic so we'll see how long it ends up. I don't have a particular update schedule in mind, but I'm hoping to update it at least once a month. It might end up being more frequent than that depending on how inspired I'm feeling.
> 
> I'll add more tags as I go/as more characters appear.
> 
> Partially inspired by my reading of [right in the head](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3702847/chapters/8194207) by Mysecretfanmoments which is an absolutely excellent BokuAka Zombie Apocalypse AU fic. Seriously, go read it.
> 
> Feel free to harass me on Twitter [here](https://twitter.com/ladylikerattata)


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